18 Mar 2008 - Rod - Puerto Rico - part II

Woke up at 11am with belting Jameson hangover which will no doubt make me tired and ratty all day!! Thanks Hollywood!! Got in the magnificent Jacuzzi again and then worked as best I could leaving for the venue at about 5 with Steve. Said hello to Patrick from US Rock mag Revolver who is with us thru NY and will do some interviews on the plane tomorrow, though Bruce took the opportunity to do his before the show today as he is flying tomorrow.

Our crew had gone down to the venue to check everything the previous evening and found that the power wasn't acceptable. We use 3 phase with different for sound and lights, or something so complex I am unlikely to ever understand fully, and as our gear is UK (240v not 110v as in USA) we need special arrangements which are sent out to our promoters months in advance. They were told it would be fine in the morning......but it wasn't. All day was spent trying to rectify this, another generator was apparently sent but didn't work out. By 6.15 we were in a position of having some 12,000 fans outside waiting to come in to a hall where everything was set up and ready to go but we had no power for the PA. Accoustic set anyone??!! The only plan appeared to be that a friend of our regional promoter Phil sort of knew an electrician who they could maybe contact who could possibly fix it. This venue, Coliseo de San Juan, is an excellent modern stadium and PR is part of USA so I could not get my (sore) head around the fact that we could get correct power arrangements in India and all round south America but it seemed a problem here. I started working out how we were going to announce to all those fans that we couldn't play -- always have a plan in case of emergency. Johnny B taped me on camera showing the stage all ready but me angrily stating the power situation, very scary I was too!!!! This was to give to local TV in case this couldn't be resolved to ensure fans got the correct info as there was no way we could reschedule the show. Thankfully Phil's mate pulled us out of a tricky situation and got it all working and, by our crew as usual responding to difficulties with great spirit and teamwork, they got all the necessary testing done in half of the usual time and in the end, although the audience were admitted a bit later than usual, the show actually ran on time.

While all this was going all was of course quiet as we had no PA or monitor power so Fox filmed a brief interview with me about the tour and plane and a sort of guided stage tour, so l got to appear on national news tv which I hope will impress my kids!! And I have to say it's a lot more relaxed doing this with people you have had a few bevvies with the night before.

Being a Caribbean island I expected the audience to be rather laid back but in fact they were pretty loud, maybe not as much as a thousand or so miles further south but good all the same. We didn't quite sell out -- it was the only show from LA on where you could get a ticket -- but it looked great and locals told me few ever totally sell out there and we had a bigger and better audience than most shows there so fine by me. It was also Steve's birthday so bruce had all the crowd singing happy birthday to an embarrassed steve and they did so with great gusto, so thanks Puerto Rico for your support. All turned out fine in the end which it usually does when you have a good crew. Drinks for them that night were on the band!!

Afterwards a spent a very short time in the bar to get steve a drink but soon crashed out drained by Mr Jameson and a stressful search for power!!

Ps also said goodbye to phil rodriguez who promoted us from costa rica to puerto rica with his regional partners - some of the best shows we have ever experienced and generally organised with great panache and attention to detail, something l always appreciate. So thankyou Phil for taking care of everything inc ourselves so well. And also a big hug to Gabriella our on road promoter rep, who was always on the ball and contributed massively to the smoothness of our travel around the continent. Hope its not too long before we see you all again.